Old Friends
by DeBrabant
Summary: SEQUEL TO: Job Interview With A Vampire / Anya catches up with an old friend or two...


Old Friends  
By Danii  
Summary: Anya catches up with an old friend...  
Disclaimer: I own no one. Not Zachary, Anya, or anyone else in this story. Not even Jeremy!   
Distribution: You actually want this? Sure, just put my name on it and tell me...  
Rating: G-PG  
Ships: Canon  
During the summer after season 4  
XOVER: It is with the same movie from "Encounters of the Odd...Kind", "Sunset Consultants", "Curiosity Did What?", and "Job Interview With A Vampire" which I have already posted: "Love Bites: the Reluctant Vampire"  
NOTE: This is number 5 in the series of encounters with Zachary and his family in which everyone gets to know one of my favorite vampires individually, and nobody tells any of the others about this oddball...This is Anya's story...  
  
And now:  
  
"Who knows what would happen, Zachy?" Nerissa purred with a smile, "And while I'd love to ponder it with you, I do have a guest in the back..."  
  
"Oh...HER..." Zachary said with disgust nearly dripping from his tone, "Well, if you had HER back there, why did you bother the boy and I?"  
  
The 400-year-old vampire smiled. "Oh, leave her alone. She's fallen on hard times. And as to why I came up, it was because I was curious. That youngster really does interest me. I'm glad you hired him. And I completely do intend to ask him when he turns twenty-five..."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"And the fact that it gets you so ruffled really puts a smile on my face..." she finished with the aforementioned facial expression plastered to her fine features. Zachary smiled back. He was so glad he'd found Kendall, and a small part of his mind whispered a prayer for his new employee's sanity should Nerissa pursue him. If he'd gone back to her, she probably would have had him crazy enough to try jumping out at people on the street like that young man from night before.  
  
"Thanks, Ris..." he said with a groan and a grin, "Nice to know you're being supportive."  
  
"Anytime, Zachy..." Nerissa answered, "Anytime..."  
  
There was silence in the room as the two old friends thought over the night, and the future they were going to have in their new home. It was a comfortable silence, but Zachary quickly broke it with a sigh.   
  
"Well, I think I'm going to head out now..." he said, getting up from his chair and putting the papers in their spots, "Check out that shop I saw earlier. Hopefully, they'll have some reference materials for my first new client..."  
  
"Okay, Zachy, see you later..." she replied with a wave as she opened the door to the living area of the home, "I'm gonna get back to my talk now..."  
  
"See you then..."  
  
"Okay..."  
  
"Enjoy your time with HER, though God only knows that I wish she wasn't in the house at all..." the younger vampire said in a grumble as he made his way out the front door.  
  
"Oh shut up, Zachy!" Nerissa shouted to him as he closed the door behind him. Through the door, she could hear a slight chuckle, and this made her smile for a moment before she closed her own door and turned to her guest and her best friend's wife.  
  
"Oh don't take anything he says seriously, Anya..." the brunette told her friend as she took a seat across the couch from her, "He's a real marshmallow at the core...Kendall, you and I both know that..."  
  
"Yeah, I know..." the younger woman said with a small sigh, "But it is nice to know that someone remembers me as a terror...brings back a little of my demonic pride..."  
  
Nerissa leaned over the couch to take her old friend's hand in her own. "Oh, honey. I'm so sorry your power center got destroyed, but you must admit, you were a little clumsy with it..."  
  
"Yeah, I know..." Anya said again, taking her hand from the vampire's, "But it doesn't make it any better...actually, it just makes it worse..."  
  
This time, Nerissa didn't say anything. She just shook her head in a consoling manner. Then Kendall, who was sitting next to Anya and sipping part of her dinner, put her hand out to comfort the girl. This just seemed to annoy the young woman even more.  
  
"But it's not fair!" she cried, keeping it as quiet as she could since Jeremy was still doing his homework in the kitchen, "I mean...life's not that bad...sex is amazing-"  
  
Nerissa and Kendall shared a look.  
  
"But I miss my job..." the girl continued, "I miss all my friends in other dimensions! And I miss being immortal! Just last week, I found a wrinkle!"  
  
"But honey..." Kendall said soothingly, "What about all the things you've gained as a human being."  
  
"Like what..." Anya grumbled.  
  
"Like..." the younger vampire started while she gave frantic looks to Nerissa asking for help, "Like that boy you told us about! What was his name?" the blonde vampire thought for a second, "It doesn't matter...don't you love your boyfriend?"  
  
"He's okay..." she admitted with a smile, "I love having sex with him and all...but I don't know. He's kinda...poor."  
  
"Well..." Kendall said with a grin, "So was Zachary when we met. He didn't have a penny to his name. But I stuck by him, and now, he's got a successful business!"  
  
"I guess so..." Anya answered with a tiny smile, "And he is smart. And sweet. And very brave! And he looks really good when he does construction work..."  
  
"See, honey?" Nerissa told her peacefully, "It's not so bad...and now that we're here, we can help you with some things. Keep your spirits up. And if you want, I'll even see that you get changed so that you can live to get your powers back..."   
  
"Really?" Anya asked, looking for all the world as if the comment was the light at the end of the tunnel, "You would do that for me?"  
  
"Sure, dear," Nerissa told her, "What are friends for?"  
  
As the words left the elder vampire's lips, the ex-demon jumped up and gave her a bear hug then sent the two of them crashing to the couch. Despite Nerissa's normally cool attitude, this set her into a God-honest laughing fit.  
  
"Oh, Ahn..." she said inbetween giggles, "you always were a little dramatic..."  
  
Anya didn't let go.  
  
"But off now, dear."  
  
With an embarrassed laugh, the young woman climbed off of her old friend and sat back down in the seat. She took a small, self-conscious look around, and then she said, "Thanks."  
  
"No problem, Anya..." Nerissa said as she fixed herself. Emotion was well and good, but she was NOT going to look like a slob...even in her own house. "Just give the word..."  
  
"Not yet." The ex-demon said quickly, eliciting an odd glance from both of her friends, "I mean, as much as I would love to stop my slow, horrifying death this very moment, I'd rather not have someone stake me tomorrow night..."  
  
There was blank face on the two vampire's faces, until Nerissa's eyes cleared up. "Oh yes, I remember now...this town has a thing against vampires because of all the demonic ones running around..."  
  
"Yeah, pretty much..." Anya told them, "So I have to get a few things set before I do it...especially considering..."  
  
"What, dear?" Kendall asked, her expression genuinely curious.  
  
Anya considered telling them about her boyfriend, how he was friends with the Slayer, and about how the whole lot of them went out and fought evil, which was very often in the form of vampires. There was no way that she could even tell the Scoobies about her friends, let alone that they might change her. And she couldn't tell her friends about the Scoobies. Her mind rejected it as being a bit rude, and probably disturbing, so she answered, "Nothing..."  
  
There was another pause, and then Nerissa nodded. "All right, dear...do what you must, and then just give me the word, okay?"  
  
"Okay..."  
  
"And don't worry about a thing, honey..." Kendall continued, "We'll help you get back you're power center..."  
  
"Thanks..."  
  
"And then everything will be okay..." Nerissa completed, "Right, dear?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Good" both vampires chorused unintentionally.  
  
All three giggled, then Anya got up.  
  
"Thanks you two...for everything..." she said as she collected her purse from the table.  
  
"Don't mention it dear..." Kendall said as she sipped some more of her dinner.  
  
"Not at all, honey..." Nerissa agreed.  
  
Anya smiled at her two wonderfully supportive friends, and then told them, "I'll be going now...loved chatting with the two of you...digging up old times and all that..."  
  
"Oh, yes it was fun," the blonde vampire said with a smile, "though I doubt I'll ever get that one image out of my mind...really, girl, did you have to rot off his-"  
  
"Anyway, Anya..." Nerissa interrupted, "It was nice seeing you. Come by again."  
  
"See ya..."  
  
"See ya!" came a chorus of vampires.  
  
And then Anya, the ex-demoness of vengeance walked out the door and towards her small apartment, wondering about how she was going to explain everything...  
  
The End   
  
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